The Fall of the Eleventh
by The Sentinel of History
Summary: The Doctor survives the End of Time and the return of the Time Lords, but increasingly weary and broken down he stumbles on. Silence Will Fall, the Pandorica Will Open, and Trenzalore awaits...and why does he get the distinct feeling something's off with the universe? Goes through Series 5-7, with the Ponds, River and Clara ahead for the Tenth Doctor...


Disclaimer - Obviously, Doctor Who is not my intellectual property. This is just for fun folks. Although on the off chance you're reading Moff, I wouldn't mind a job. Or at least a review. I am, like my favourite fictional character, an eternal optimist!

Note: This fic might not go anywhere, but it starts from a simple and common premise - what if Tennant stayed on? If I stick with this as planned, this will be the adventures of Eleven, as well as some new ones, from Amy Pond's Garden to Trenzalore, with a few twists along the way. How does the Tenth Doctor change things?

Prologue

In an average village in the middle of England, on the darkest and gloomiest of nights, there was a very big, mysterious house. In this big, mysterious house, there was a small bedroom – with a single bed, a crack in the wall, and a little, praying ginger girl.

"_Dear Santa. Thank you for the dolls and the pencils, and the fish. It's Easter now, so I hope I didn't wake you, but honest, it is an emergency. There's a crack in my wall. Aunt Sharon says it's just an ordinary crack, but I know it's not, because at night there's voices, so please, please could you send someone to fix it? Or a Policeman. Or a..._"

Amelia Pond was interrupted by the most bizarre of noises, followed by a resounding crash. With a frown, the little Scottish girl in the English village, seven years old and orphaned, grabbed a torch from her bedside table and stumbled to the window. Her shed had been decimated, and in its place was a big blue box on its side. It was all very strange.

She grabbed her coat and raced down the stairs through the front-door to the slightly messy garden, in time to see the doors of the mysterious blue box open outwards, and a dishevelled man jump out, coughing and spluttering. He was quite possibly the strangest sight little Amelia Pond had ever seen. He had very messy, short brown hair and prominent sideburns, but his handsome face was full of cuts and his clothes, once a brown, pinstriped suit - were ragged and torn, soaking wet and literally hanging off his body. She could only stare as the man gazed up and gave her a manic grin.

"_Ah hello little girl! Ouch, crash-landings. Never fun. I'm the Doctor!_"

And then he promptly fainted.

* * *

When he woke, his first thought was of bananas. Then he swore in pain, blinked rapidly, and tried desperately to figure out where the hell he was. What had happened to him? Rassilon, and the Time Lords and walking away alive and well if a bit battered, laughing joyously with Wilf and running as fast as he could as the Naismith Mansion went down in an explosion of radiation... Saying his goodbyes and the Tardis suddenly going haywire, resisting his controls and refusing to co-operate, crashing into a garden shed and...

And a little Scottish girl. A very strange, impatient, _ginger _(why did she have to be ginger?) little Scottish girl, looking at him as if he were the weirdest thing in the Universe. Well, he figured he probably was. He was a contender at any time, but it wasn't every day a blue box crash-landed in your garden, decimated your shed and then spat out an alien in war-torn clothes. Not unless her life was really weird. Knowing his luck it probably was.

"_Are you okay?_"

He snapped back to reality and jumped to his feet, only to instantly regret it as his limbs burned. He waved a hand in dismissal, and couldn't help but grin. She was Scottish! He loved Scottish!

"_Oh I'm fineee. Just a little fall. My magic blue box just happened to explode right after I saved the Universe for the ten billionth time, and then I fell all the way down to the library and then I had to climb all the way back up, and __**then**__ the Tardis threw me out, and then I met __**you**__! Hello by the way. Did I mention I'm the Doctor?_" He shot her one of his manic grins that tended to reassure people. Well, sometimes it scared his companions, but that was only because they knew him. Other times it tended to attract people, but that was just plain weird and the Doctor would never get used to it. The little girl just looked at him blankly.

"_But you're soaking wet!"_ Of all the things to concentrate on! He shook his head.

"_Welllllll, it's complicated. My library happened to be in the swimming pool, not great. All those first editions ruined! Ah well, I can just get them again, can't I? Might be hard to get some of those Sherlock Holmes copies again, Doyle didn't really like me that much, but I was wearing __**that **__coat at the time..."_

He was interrupted from his ramblings by her curious question. "_Are you a policeman?_"

"_Why? Do you need one?"_

She answered his query with one of her own. "_Did you come about the crack in my wall?_"

He raised an eyebrow. "_A crack? I crash-land in your garden and that's your first thought?_" He was incredulous, but his instincts were already beginning to kick in. "_It must be one hell of a scary crack. Well in that case I better help, no time to lose! Like I said – I'm the Doctor. Do try to keep up and we'll be fine. But first, could you get me a banana? Love Bananas. Here's a tip for you - Always bring a banana to a party. Never know when you'll need it. I once saved the Universe with a banana and a box of matches, but that's a story for another day. Anyway, what are you waiting for? Allons-y!"_

* * *

Three hundred years later, on the fields of Trenzalore, at the Fall of the Eleventh, when no living creature could speak falsely or fail to answer, the same man was staring down the very same crack that had existed in Amelia Pond's bedroom. This time, although his hair was as messy as ever, his face was clean, his pin-striped brown suit was immaculate, and he even had a long brown overcoat. He had no manic grin, however. His face was morose, and his body tense – he stood there every bit the tired old man, weary of the ways of the Universe with his hands in his pockets and his eyes clouded. The Time Lord, in his eleventh body; the Tenth to have called himself the Doctor, had been through so much, had lost so much and was now stood ready for the end. The Four Knocks reverberated in his consciousness, and memories of Rose and Donna flitted in his mind. Behind him, a pretty brunette of small stature was crying.

"_There has to be another way, Doctor! It can't end like this. You don't deserve this!"_

He turned and gave her a soft smile, sadness etched in every line of his face. When he spoke, his voice trembled, but only very slightly.

"_There's no other way. A Time Lord lives too long, and I've lived longer than I should have, and you Clara Oswald, know that better than anyone._"

The girl let out a sob and rushed to hug him. He gently took hold of her chin and directed her gaze towards his as Clara clutched him desperately. "_It's alright_," He whispered softly, desperate to placate her. "_This is the end of my song, but not yours. You'll still get to meet me, and I'll still get to meet you. And the Universe doesn't blow up! Everyone wins!_"

"_But it won't be you!_" When the brunette spoke, her voice was hoarse and desperate. The Doctor edged away from her embrace and offered her a kind smile before he turned back to the crack.

"_Oh, you never know. I'll still be there in his head. The Doctor and his big blue time-travelling machine of a box. Some things don't change. All that running, all that adventure... Wonder what I'm like though, eh? Maybe I'll finally be ginger. I'll probably still be rude. Young, old? Probably not as foxy..." _She let out a laugh and he smiled. "_Allons-y Clara Oswin Oswald_." The Doctor sighed, and made a move towards the wall.

"_I've lived too long. It's time to go._"


End file.
